UFC 148 takes place July 7 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The
main card airs on pay-per-view, and FX and Facebook are expected to
carry the prelims.

The positioning of the Alessio vs. Roller matchup on the night’s card was not revealed.

Alessio looks again for his first UFC win in his fourth stint with the organization. Over the years, he suffered losses to Pat Miletich (2000), Diego Sanchez (2006) and Thiago Alves (2006) under the UFC banner. Recently, though, the 32-year-old Canadian had been on a roll with 10 victories in his past 11 fights, a short-notice fight against Mark Bocek at this past month’s UFC 145 event did not go his way, and “The Natural” lost via unanimous decision.

Meanwhile, it’s likely a make-or-break fight for Roller, who’s dropped his past three bouts inside the octagon. The former WEC standout suffered a third-round submission loss to T.J. Grant at UFC Versus 6 and then was knocked out cold by Melvin Guillard at UFC 132. He looked to rebound against Michael Johnson at January’s UFC on FOX 2 event but suffered a unanimous-decision defeat.

As the UFC 189 tour made its last stop in Dublin, featherweight champ Jose Aldo was met with a torrent of abuse from the Irish fans. It might have been unpleasant, but it might also have been just what he needed.